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Child marriage

Child marriage is a global problem that affect millions of children, mostly girls, across the world. Child marriage has numerous adverse effects on the overall well-being of children who are mentally, psychologically, emotionally and physical unfit for married life. It constitutes a violation of child rights and must be abolished. It deprives those involved of education and health services, the chance to learn skills and to develop their personalities.

Since girls are more likely to marry young than boys, and illiterate girls are significantly more at risk of child marriage; Save the Children works with gender transformative programmes that are focused to enroll and retain girls in schools.

Ending child marriage requires the joint effort of all organisations from community level to national and global level. Save the Children works in networks and in collaboration with different stakeholders and sees child marriage as a crosscutting issue that should be mainstreamed into all development work. A reduction in child marriage, FGM and sexual violence will reduce the levels of maternal and infant mortality due to under-age pregnancies and unsafe pregnancies and delivery.

Documents (256)

Girls Not Brides is a civil society partnership of more than 400 member organisations that are based in over 60 countries. They work to end child marriage around the world by working at grassroots, national and global levels. This brief presents an overvi

Despite the high numbers in Brazil of women married or cohabitating by the age of 15, little to no research on the topic exists. From 2013 to 2015, Promundo conducted exploratory research in two states in Brazil with funding from the Ford Foundation. The

This handbook is a revised, abridged version of the handbook “ Ending corporal punishment of children – working with and within religious communities ” (2011). It provides links to tools and resources for engaging with and enlisting the support of religio

The Good School Toolkit, produced by Raising Voices, aims to help teachers and administrators create a violence-free learning environment where students can develop their skills and confidence and become constructive, creative, and thoughtful members of t

As the conflict in Yemen enters its ninth month, the situation for children and their families becomes more and more desperate with each passing day. Over 1.3 million children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition, and with the food

Child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) can have severe implications for human and social development, with a great risk for the violation of sexual and reproductive rights of underage child brides and mothers. CEFM has significant ramifications for the s

In April 2015, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Education, Science and Technology made official government policy an existing ban on visibly pregnant girls attending schools or taking exams. In addition to pregnancy testing practices that humiliate girls, thi

Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 400 civil society organisations working to address child marriage. This toolkit aims to provide Members of Parliament (MPs) with an overview of what child marriage is, its prevalence around the world,

Children represent one of the groups most affected by various forms of violence and violations of rights associated with organised crime. In general, the responses of States have not been sufficient to provide adequate protection to the children most affe

Produced by NTCF Media Group in Bangladesh, a child-led production company, with support from Save the Children, this video shares the stories of young girls who are married before the age of eighteen. Many young girls in Bangladesh are forced to abandon

Produced by the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, this video shares children’s dreams of the future: a future without violence against children. The Global Partnership will focus on ending violence against children as well as ensuring t

Published by CARE International, this publication is part of the Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Contexts: Critical Issues Series, which is designed to inform and highlight promising practices and/or gaps in programming and to critically analyse wor

Publisher

Al-Azhar University, International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research, Cairo (2) Apply Al-Azhar University, International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research, Cairo filter

ODID, Oxford Department of International Development (1) Apply ODID, Oxford Department of International Development filter

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (1) Apply Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights filter

Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children (1) Apply Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children filter

Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children (1) Apply Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children filter